It took me a while to get back to the business or should I say that I feared that I had almost lost my mojo to be back here. It was the start of new year and how strangely I was almost out of inspiration to bake or to photograph again. But the sense of losing it was there and I could easily see things getting out of my hand. I just wanted to end that state soon and hence started feeling a bit relentless within. Good thing is that the realization happened soon and it was as close as snapping my finger to come out of it….

Last weekend was about adieus and good byes. Adieu to the birds migrating to India and to strawberries, the seasonal fruits of spring. As the winters are departing and summers are approaching, those guest species of birds from the countries in the northern hemisphere return to their home.

I have been visiting this bird sanctuary, Sultanpur National Park, every year from past three years, along with my friend. An early morning visit to this birds natural home is so refreshing and soothing to my ears and eyes. We are lucky that it is just at a distance of 15 KM from my home. November to early march is the best time to go see those birds. And we didn’t want to miss our chance to say them goodbye.

And a recipe with strawberries which matched up to the theme of the weekend was this light, healthy, low on fat and refreshing Strawberry & Apple Crumble. The tart flavor of strawberries, sweetness of apples and the crunchiness of nuts and the oats make this dessert even good for your breakfast.

It has been ages since I last blogged baking. Not that I was not baking at home but had been busy in other stuff. I know it took me long to come back, but the urge to be back was constantly thriving in my heart. And what could be better reason, when I had recently bought my new Nikon DSLR D3100 camera, which is an entry level DSLR, but good enough to get clean and beautiful shots (atleast for the beginner like me). Last Thursday, My friend invited me for a dinner party at his home next day, and his wife had asked for a chocolate cake. As the party was arranged for Friday, so I was little hard pressed as these days, it’s getting little late at work in the evening. So, I thought of baking the cake in two days. Now I had to find a recipe fast, which should not be too difficult and time consuming.

I searched through the internet and found this wonderful recipe with strawberries. I quickly read the recipe and felt happy to see that most of the ingredients I had already stocked in my inventory (did some substitutions and skips). Because of the time constraint, I baked the cake one day in advance, covered it with a cling wrap and piled it up in fridge to be frosted the other day.

While the cake was getting baked, it started puffing up in the center, I don’t know why. Probably I had mixed the batter a little over. But no problem, I cut the puffed up part using a sharp knife and reserved it for using it later for chocolate trifles. I halved the recipe, as I didn’t have two separate spring form tins of same size, nor I had enough time to bake the cakes twice. And the result was really perfect and moist cake.

Note that I halved the below recipe.

Ingredients

Cake

280gm plain flour

50gm cocoa

50gm cornflour

4tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

300gm powdered sugar

10tbsp oil

10tbsp water

4tbsp milk

6 eggs, separated

2tsp pure vanilla extract

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Filling

300ml low fat cream

200gm strawberries, chopped

1/4 cup sugar

1tbsp balsamic vinegar (substituted with white wine vinegar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

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Chocolate Ganache

275gm dark chocolate, room temperature

150ml low fat cream, room temperature

Instructions

Cake:

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line 2 9″ spring form tin.

Sift the cornflour, flour, baking powder, salt, icing sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl.

Beat the egg whites till they stand in soft peaks & keep aside.

Lightly beat the oil, water,yolks and vanilla extract together & stir into the dry ingredients.

Fold the whites gently into the yolk mixture.

Divide into lined tins & bake for about 45 minutes till well risen & golden brown. Check if it is done with a wooden pick.

Leave in tin for 10 minutes, & then cool completely on rack.

Once cool, cut into 2 or 3 layers.

Sandwich with filling (recipe follows). Allow to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes, and then frost with the chocolate ganache (recipe follows). Let it sit out for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Filling:

First prepare filling: Place strawberries, sugar, vanilla extract and balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, and simmer till it becomes thick and jam-like. Cool completely.

Beat cream to medium stiff peaks, and gently fold in cooled strawberry mixture, taking care not to release the volume of the cream.

Chocolate Ganache:

Place the chocolate with 100ml cream in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 30-40 seconds. You can also simmer it in pan until the chocolate melts. Stir until smooth, add the remaining cream and stir well to combine both into a smooth ganache.

Give the cake one basic thin coating with this ganache.

Decorate with some fresh strawberries and dust with icing sugar, if desired.